Agenda and minutes
PDF 175 KBVenue: Ashcombe Suite, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN
Contact: Dominic Mackie
Media
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Barbara Thomson, Robert Evans, Saj Hussain and John Orrick. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING:
To agree the minutes as a true record of the meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.
Notes: · In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is aware they have the interest. · Members need only disclose interests not currently listed on the Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests. · Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the Register. · Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.
Additional documents: Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes: 1. The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (Thursday 7 January 2016). 2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (Wednesday 6 January 2016). 3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.
Additional documents: Minutes: There were no questions or petitions. |
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RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE BOARD
To review responses from Cabinet to recommendations made by the Board. Additional documents: Minutes: The Board reviewed the responses from Cabinet. |
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RECOMMENDATION TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME
The Committee is asked to monitor progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings, and to review its Forward Work Programme. Additional documents: Minutes: 1. The Chairman informed the Board that based on the good feedback from the October Board meeting, where residents attended as witnesses for the Highways Customer Service Excellence item, the next Board meeting would be hosted at a Library branch, and that updates would be circulated to the Board ahead of the meeting.
2. The Board noted the updates on the Recommendations Tracker.
3. The spokesperson for the Performance and Finance Sub Group queried what the forthcoming work stream for the group was and it was clarified that Board’s would have a role in scrutinising service budgets as soon as that information was made available.
4. The Chairman notified the Board that from the Surrey Fire and Rescue Transformation Member Reference Group, a series of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) would be drawn up. The Performance and Finance sub Group would be responsible for the analysis and overview of these KPIs.
5. A Member raised the potential relocation of the Grange Park Opera House in West Horsley as a potential item for scrutiny.
Actions:
The Grange Park Opera House was added to the Forward Work Programme as an item for consideration.
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THE NEW JOINT TRADING STANDARDS SERVICE: UPDATE ON PROGRESS
The new Joint Trading Standards Service for Buckinghamshire and Surrey was launched on 1 April 2015.
This report summarises the progress made in the first eight months of the new service. It invites the Board to note the progress, and to identify any issues which they would want to explore in more detail at future meetings.
Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest:
None.
Witnesses:
Steve Ruddy, Head of Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards Amanda Poole, Assistant Head of Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards
Key points raised during the discussion:
1.
Officers explained to the Board that the joint Trading Standards
Service went live on 1 April 2015 and was still in its infancy. The
service was designed as a holistic service to protect residents and
businesses in Buckinghamshire and Surrey, and build upon the local
authorities’ statutory responsibilities. The service aimed to
provide a better service for residents and partners across the two
counties as a more resilient team.
2.
Officers provided an update on paragraph 3.1.3 of the report; a
rogue trader defrauding over £100,000 from Surrey residents
was prosecuted and jailed before Christmas 2015 and £114,000
of their assets will be used to pay back the residents
affected.
3.
Officers reported the expansion of Primary Authority Partnerships
continued and that local businesses were coming to Trading
Standards as they saw the benefits of joining their
scheme.
4.
Trading Standards officers said that their Health and Wellbeing
workstream was developing well, and gave two examples of current
work: continued work against ‘legal highs’ and the
‘Eat Out Eat Well Award’ campaign.
5.
Officers outlined the partnership between Trading Standards with
Checkatrade; the latter increased the checks and introduced
enhanced criteria in order to gain membership on the scheme, and
when compared to the previous confidence based scheme, officers
reported that figures demonstrate an increase in membership since
the partnership began. Officers
reported that Trading Standards had also joined the national
TrustMark scheme.
6.
Cabinet Member Richard Walsh commented that the Trading Standards
service was working well and that the partnership with
Buckinghamshire was proving successful. The joint Trading Standards
model needed to plan ahead and operate in a way that would not to
be clipped and reduced but rather remains to provide an essential
service to the community. The business model chosen would give
Trading Standards the ability to find income sources with the aim
of the Service becoming self-financing in the future, with profits
being invested back into developing and protecting
communities.
7.
Members raised concerns that smaller local businesses felt trapped
into having to purchase a full membership for Checkatrade under the
new partnership with Trading Standards. Officers explained that the
new Checkatrade arrangement was not a full membership, and that it
was available at a discount to the full membership price. The new
scheme would not cost significantly more than the previous Buy with
Confidence scheme. Trading Standards had looked at options with
other partners; however prices would have been significantly
higher.
8.
Members commented that the Trading Standards website had improved
greatly, however ‘the consumer’ was not part of the
thread of rhetoric on the site and most links pointed consumers to
the Citizens Advice Bureau. 9. Members questioned how Surrey’s residents, as consumers, could receive the best information and advice for their ‘smaller’ issues. Officers explained that the Citizens Advice Bureau was separate ... view the full minutes text for item 31/15 |
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING:
The next meeting of the Committee will be held at 10:30am on Thursday 17 March 2016. Additional documents: Minutes: The next full public meeting will be held at 10.30am on 17 March 2016. |